From the Film Maker...

I was inspired by the frozen moment where Jupiter and Juno aren't sure what happens next. I was also taken by the painting's history.

I used the ultramarine of the sky in the painting for the colour of the clothing of one of my characters, Romie, and for the overall colour scheme of the bathroom. The purple of Jupiter's wrap shows up in Ciro's jacket and in the towel Romie pulls out of the dryer. I kept her pale and him dark.

Romie also pulls out white bedding of the kind Juno reclines on, symbolising trails of milk. I tried to echo the painting’s warm orange-yellow of the drapes in the stairwell. The airport is more reflective of the missing part of the painting - Juno is on a stone plinth which we can't see.

I tended to place Romie on the left of frame, like Juno. There's also a peacock statue in the bathroom, a symbol associated with Juno. The hug at the airport is an echo of Juno's outflung arm. In the painting Juno is pushing away, but to me it looks as if she's reaching out to embrace Jupiter.

I tried to use airy side and back lighting and aimed to contextualise the characters in their environment, surrounding them with symbols: her rings, the orange suitcases, coffee, the peacock, the artwork in the bathroom.

To me, this painting is about an in-between moment when Juno and Jupiter are working out what they're going to do next. They are waiting for a sign. Something appears to have changed, or is changing, but it's not clear what. I feel it's a beginning-of-a-journey feeling.

Throughout the painting, there are examples of people carrying things and I echo this with people carrying suitcases. I hope it is equally obvious that I'm looking at moments where characters are torn between instincts to hold on and instincts to disengage.
Romie Stott